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“Visions of the Divine Council in Pre-Exilic Writings” Chapter 3 Of: Hebrew-Streams.Org ÒVisions of the Divine Council in Pre-exilic WritingsÓ Chapter 3 of: VISIONS OF THE DIVINE COUNCIL IN THE HEBREW BIBLE A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the Religion Division Pepperdine University Malibu, California by Paul B. Sumner April 1991 (corrected February 2013) © 1991, 2013 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED hebrew-streams.org Paul Sumner Visions of the Divine Council in Pre-exilic Writings 2 ABSTRACT The divine council in the Hebrew Bible is a symbolic ruling body consisting of God as the supreme monarch and various supernatural attendants. According to Patrick Miller, the divine council is one of the central cosmological symbols in the Hebrew Bible. That is, it is one of the BibleÕs ways of describing how God maintains order in the the Creation. Working through innumerable hosts of angelic servants, God creates and rules the physical universe, as well as the world of men. In his position as head of the council, God holds three primary offices: King, Judge, and Warrior. He is absolute ruler over all. He makes judicial decisions about the activities of its occupants. And he initiates punitive actions against those forces (divine or human) which cause chaos and disorder (i.e. sin), in order to restore tsedaqah (righteousness) and shalom (wholeness, peace). His obedient angels serve him in each of his corresponding offices. In his royal throne-room, they praise their King and act as his official counsellors, courtiers, and messengers. As members of the court, they act as witnesses, investigating detectives, bailiffs, and perhaps fellow judges. As members of the WarriorÕs vast army, they wage war on evil beings. The existence of the divine council is witnessed to by various literary genres of the Hebrew Bible. It is mentioned in historical, narrative and poetic passages, prophetic visions, Temple liturgy, apocalyptic visions. It also transcends the historical time-line, from the earliest primeval history to the final eschatological frontier. The concept and imagery of the divine council is thus woven throughout the pages of the Hebrew Bible. In the Hebrew Bible, a few select men gain access to the divine council. These visitors are the prophets. During their visionary entry into working sessions of the royal throneroom, they overhear what the King and his counsellors decide to do regarding specific human situations. Such visits or Òthrone visionsÓ are for the purpose of giving the prophet a message to announce to his people. The visions also authenticate the messenger, because he alone Òhas stood in the council of YHVHÓ (Jer 23:18). The throne visions became a kind of Òtheological genreÓ through which the visionaries/writers conveyed their convictions about the status of a particular agent of divine redemption. These agents, when once seen in the heavenly throneroom (if not Paul Sumner Visions of the Divine Council in Pre-exilic Writings 3 seated on the throne by God himself), demand attention from the community of believing Israel. In the canonical throne visions, we read descriptions of specific agents at the center of council sessions. The high priest Joshua is inaugurated as authority over the post-Exilic Restoration Community. He is opposed by a prosecuting attorney named Òthe adversaryÓ (ïËèËrÌä) and defended by YHVHÕs personal angel or representative (_ËàÙìÌnÌä). And in the last throne vision, a mysterious being with human form (ÖËðÛà øÌa) receives authority from God to rule the world. Does this important cosmological symbolic concept and imagery continue to be important among post-biblical Jews? The central concern of this paper is to show that divine councils were common in the ANE prior to IsraelÕs historical emergence; to sketch out the basic elements and evidences of the divine council in the Hebrew Bible and show the unique features in the relation to foreign pantheons; to analyze the use of those elements with the throne visions or working sessions of the council; and to suggest that the concept imagery and concept continued into post-biblical (Early) Judaism, including the New Testament. Ñ Paul B. Sumner Paul Sumner Visions of the Divine Council in Pre-exilic Writings 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract .............................................................................................................................2 Table of Contents ............................................................................................................. 4 Chapter 3 Ñ Visions of the Divine Council in Pre-exilic Writings ........... 11 Exodus 24:9Ð11 ................................................................................................. 12 1 Kings 22:19Ð23 .............................................................................................. 19 Isaiah 6:1Ð8 ........................................................................................................ 25 Abbreviations ................................................................................................................. 33 Thesis chapters are available as PDFs at Hebrew Streams website: Chapter 1ÑAncient Near Eastern Backgrounds http://www.hebrew-streams.org/works/hebrew/divinecouncil-ch1.pdf Chapter 2ÑThe Divine Council in the Hebrew Bible http://www.hebrew-streams.org/works/hebrew/divinecouncil-ch2.pdf Chapter 3ÑVisions of the Divine Council in Pre-exilic Writings http://www.hebrew-streams.org/works/hebrew/divinecouncil-ch3.pdf Chapter 4ÑVisions of the Divine Council in Exilic and Post-exilic Writings http://www.hebrew-streams.org/works/hebrew/divinecouncil-ch4.pdf Chapter 5ÑThe Divine Council in Second Temple Judaism and the New Testament http://www.hebrew-streams.org/works/hebrew/divinecouncil-ch5.pdf Paul Sumner Visions of the Divine Council in Pre-exilic Writings 5 Chapter 3 Visions of the Divine Council in Pre-exilic Writings ÒThrone visionsÓ report the experiences of prophets who were admitted into the council chamber of YHVH. The visions provide specific glimpses into contemporary historical situations, and provide a theological viewpoint in relation to those human circumstances. Six passages in the Hebrew Bible are classified as throne visions: Exodus 24:9-11, 1 Kings 22:19-23, Isaiah 6:1-8, Ezekiel 1:26-28 and 10:1-5 (chap. 10 is considered as part of the one larger visionary experience), Zechariah 3, and Daniel 7:9-14. The term Òthrone visionÓ1 is defined in this paper as: a vision of God sitting on a throne accompanied by heavenly beings. Each vision is introduced by a verb of seeing, most often äàø.2 This and the following chapter will analyze the passages to determine how the visions correspond theologically to the historical realities. This analysis will include brief literary and historical summaries, and discussions of specific throne-vision terminology and imagery, such as the meaning and 1 The term is used in Form-Critical discussions. E. g. W. Zimmerli, Ezekiel I (Hermeneia; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1979), 100; J. J. Collins, Daniel (With an Introduction to Apocalyptic Literature) (FOTL 20; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1984) 18; R. M. Hals, Ezekiel (FOTL 19; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1989), 11. 2 For selected works on visions see D. E. Aune, ÒVisions,Ó ISBE 4.993-994; J. Eaton, Vision in Worship (The Relation of Prophecy and Liturgy in the Old Testament) (London: SPCK, 1981); J. D. Levenson, ÒThe Jerusalem Temple in Devotional and Visionary Experience,Ó in Jewish Spirituality I: From the Bible Through the Middle Ages (ed. A. Green; New York: Crossroad, 1987), 32-61, esp. 46-51; B. O. Long, ÒProphetic Call Traditions and Reports of Visions,Ó ZAW 84 (1972): 494-500; idem, ÒReports of Visions Among the Prophets,Ó JBL 95 (1976): 353-65; S. Niditch, The Symbolic Vision in Biblical Tradition (HSM 30; Chico: Scholars Press, 1983); M. S. Smith, ÒÔSeeing GodÕ in the Psalms: The Background of the Beatific Vision in the Hebrew Bible,ÕÓ CBQ 50 (1988): 171-83. For works on theophanies see J. Barr, ÒTheophany and Anthropomorphism in the Old Testament,Ó in Congress Volume Oxford 1959 (VT Sup; Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1960), 31- 38; F. M. Cross, ÒThe Storm Theophany in the Bible,Ó in Canaanite Myth, 156-77; G. H. Davies, ÒPillar of Fire and of Cloud,Ó IDB 3.817; idem, ÒTheophany,Ó IDB 4.619-20; W. R. Herman, ÒThe Kingship of Yahweh in the Hymnic Theophanies of the Old Testament,Ó SBT 16 (1988): 169-211; J. Jeremias, ÒTheophanies in the Old Testament,Ó IDBSup 896-98; G. A. F. Knight, ÒTheophany,Ó ISBE 4.827-31. For works on dreams see R. Gnuse, The Dream Theophany of Samuel (Its Structure in Relation to Ancient Near Eastern Dreams and Its Significance) (Lanham: Univ. Press of America, 1984); I. Mendelsohn, ÒDreams,Ó IDB 1.868-89; J. H. Stek, ÒDreams,Ó ISBE (1979), 1.991-92. Paul Sumner Visions of the Divine Council in Pre-exilic Writings 6 significance of the divine names and council members, the identity of the vision witnesses, the purposes of the visions, and any related details. Each vision will be discussed separately, then a summary analysis of all six will be provided at the end of Chapter 4. This summary will compare and contrast the visions to determine if a unified purpose or function transcends them as a group. Chapters 3 and 4 are divided at the Babylonian Exile in the 6th century. Chapter 3 contains studies on Exodus 24, 1 Kings 22, and Isaiah 6. Chapter 4 contains studies on Ezekiel 1 and 10, Zechariah 3, and Daniel 7. This division is chronological according to the events reported in the various books, except that the positions of Zechariah and Daniel are reversed, following their canonical placement in the Hebrew Bible. I am aware, that the compositional chronology of all these passages is different. Whereas the events of Exodus 24 come before Isaiah 6, the recording of the events may have occurred later (if Exodus 24 is assigned to the ÒPÓ or Priestly editor of the 6th century). Most scholars, however, assign Exodus 24 to either the Yahwist or the Elohist, in the 10th and 9th centuries, respectively. First Kings 11 is a part of the Deuteronomic History composed during the Exile in the mid-6th century, although its events are from the 9th century. As for the Exilic and post-Exilic passages, most scholars think that the portions of Ezekiel and Zechariah discussed here were composed shortly after the reported visions.
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